HCMC embraces coworking space concept

VnExpress discovered that a seat in a coworking space in Districts 1 and 3 costs $150-300 per month. On Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street in District 3 the cost is $150-200, while in De Tham, which is popular with foreigners, it goes up to $200-300. Rates in Vietnam are lower than in most other cities in the Asia Pacific: they average over $400 a month in Shanghai, over $600 in Singapore and $1,500 in Hong Kong, according to real estate consultancy CBRE. Operators of coworking spaces said their customers are mostly freelancers, entrepreneurs and market researchers from other countries. They work for a short time in the city and only need a seat where they can work with their laptop, they said. Coworking spaces are especially popular with Japanese market researchers since they have a minimalist working style and usually travel alone, they revealed. As of April there were 23 coworking operators in Vietnam managing a total of 34 spaces, said CBRE. Growth has averaged 55 percent a year over the last five years, and the number of spaces is likely to reach 45 by the end of this year, it noted. Drawing attention The growth in Vietnam is attracting increasing attention from international firms. Real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle had said last month that WeWork, the third largest startup in the U.S., plans to open a coworking space in HCMC later this year. It will be the largest in Vietnam at 5,000 square meters. WeWork acquired Chinese coworking space… [Read full story]